Getting to Cusco and getting sick

So before I went to Colca Canyon, I had heard there was a roadblock in a town called Sicuanui, which meant there were no buses running from Arequipa to Cusco. The town had been blocking the road for a while as a protest against the government. Protesting what? I have no idea. I had no idea how long the roadblock would be either, and I had to be in Cusco by a certain date. I had booked a trek to Machu Picchu and wanted to get to Cusco a few days before the trek to properly acclimatize.

I decided to book a flight to Cusco. I went to a travel agent and at first nothing was available except to fly to Lima and then to Cusco which would cost over $300. Luckily, out of the blue, while searching for flights, one seat opened up on a direct flight from Arequipa to Cusco. It cost about $140, which is a lot, but at least not $300+. So I was feeling pretty lucky at that point. But when I got back from the Colca Canyon tour I heard the roadblock was cleared for a few days. So I could have taken the bus after all. Well at least I´d save a little time by flying, right? Wrong. It turns out that the flight was overbooked. They ended up putting me on a flight to Lima, and then another flight from Lima to Cusco. It was a pain but they gave me a $90 voucher to fly with LAN again. There was also a couple from Denmark that had been in the same situation that I ended up hanging out with.

Well I finally got to Cusco. I was pretty tired from all the flying and waiting in airports. The altitude (3400m/11,150ft) in Cusco made be tired also. So for the first few days I was pretty out of it. I walked around Cusco like a zombie. I figured it was just because I had to get used to the altitude and in a few days I´d be fine. Well by the third day I still felt like crap. I had a sore throat also that couldn´t have been from the altitude. So on Sunday (28 June) I went to the clinic in town. I wanted to be sure I´d be okay for my 5 day trek. Well the doctor diagnosed me with tonsilitis. My tonsils were infected, and apparently I had a fever from it also. He prescribed me some antibiotics and told me to stay in bed at the hotel for 2 days.

That meant I couldn´t go on the trek! I didn´t book the Inca trail because you have to do that 4-6 months in advance. I didn´t know. I booked the Salkantay trek, which was named among the 25 best Treks in the World, by National Geographic Adventure Travel Magazine. It was a 5 day / 4 night trek, and the last day would be at Machu Picchu. But this trek was supposed to be really hard. Someone had told me that it was also known as the ¨Salkan-cry¨trek because it was so hard. You climb up to 6271m/20574ft!! Some nights you camp out on top of glaciers on Mt. Salkantay. So after thinking about it, I was kind of relieved not to do the trek. I kind of wanted to see how I´d handle a trek like this but maybe getting sick just meant I was not meant to do this kind of trek. I love to rock climb, but maybe trekking was not really my thing.

The tour operator (Llama Path) said I could join the rest of the group on the 4th and 5th day by taking the train to Aguas Calientes, and then Friday would be in Machu Picchu. So I still got to go!! And hopefully I will get refunded with my travel insurance for the trek.